My New Apartment

Kitchen/Lounge,
originally uploaded by BrisbaneBryce.

It's been quite some time since I posted last. I've been quite busy, now that I've found a place to live in Brisbane. I've spent the last few weeks getting the office sorted out. Last week, we had a visitor from the States who might come over to work with us. We met her at the airport, had meals together, and introduced her around the city.

I got the keys to my new place the same day she arrived, so it's been a bit tough to get the new place sorted. This is a photo of the kitchen and lounge area, facing in to the apartment from the balcony. My flat is a complete change from my home in San Francisco. The new place was built in the last few years, it's ultra-modern, an apartment, it's in a high rise, and it's on the 38th floor. It has a spectacular view facing West. The photo I'm showing was taken at night from the balcony, looking in on the kitchen and lounge area. The balcony is pretty reasonably sized, too. It's a two bedroom place, so I can have a bedroom to myself and an office. I plan to use the office as a guest room. I was surprised at how much storage space there is in the place; there are cupboards and shelves everywhere. The only disappointment so far is the hang-up closet space is rather limited...perhaps half a meter of liner rails to hand up shirts, suits, pants, and so forth. I figure since I have two closets, I will use both.
There is enough room in the apartment for a washer and dryer...this makes all the difference in the world to me, since I've found being able to wash and dry my own clothes on my own schedule is usually the difference between wearing clean clothes and dirty clothes. Oddly, I've found only one laundromat in the entire city so far. I don't understand how a city of apartment dwellers can live without laundromat. In my neighborhood in San Francisco, it seemed every other corner had a laundry, and that was a neighborhood of houses. Eh, another mystery.

I'll try to post some more pictures of the place, before and after. I also promised a post on Singapore. I'll try to get that out soon, since it was such an interesting place.

Settled in the Short Term

I found a place to stay until the end of April, and have been here for about a week. It's not much more than a glorified studio, but at least it's a home-like substitute. It also happens to be a few hundred meters from a train station, which makes commuting to work fast and efficient. This is part of a four day Easter weekend, which has made life very challenging. Most small businesses are closed for the long weekend, including the local supermarket. This is a problem because I had to stay late for work on Thursday, which meant I didn't get to shop for food, which has meant that I've had to eat out or pay airport prices at convenience stores (when they were open). It means the banks haven't been open, transportation was on Sunday or holiday schedules.

It's also meant that I've been the one dealing with two crises at work because our other offices have been closed for the holidays and ignoring my requests for assistance. Irritating bastards. I'll make sure they get theirs soon enough, though. I'm supposed to be on four day holiday, too, and I don't have the good fortune to get July 4th, Labor Day, Memorial Day, or Thanksgiving here in Australia. So, I'll be sure to take off the rest of Australia's public holidays and be very, very gone.

Work aside, I'm slowly finding the places to be and go around the city. Understanding the geography, finding interesting neighborhoods. I can't wait to get my real place so I can really start to settle in, get some food stocks, and start enjoying myself nights and weekends.